


Love-in-idleness

by youjik33



Category: Gargoyles (TV)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Series, Sex Pollen, Treat, handjobs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 11:49:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11668545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youjik33/pseuds/youjik33
Summary: A seemingly minor incident in Dr. Sevarius' lab leads Preston to discover just how promising their newest employee really is.





	Love-in-idleness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fenellaevangela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fenellaevangela/gifts).



> This pairing gave me the excuse to re-watch a bunch of Gargoyles, which was awesome. While doing so I had all these lofty, complicated ideas of what I wanted to write. Instead I wrote sex pollen.
> 
> ...I hope you like sex pollen!

Spring, 1989

 

“Your security card will give you lab clearance,” Preston said, “but make sure you never attempt to enter if the warning light is red. Keep on your toes at all times, and if Dr. Sevarius or one of his assistants gives you any direction, follow it without question. The experiments here can be very delicate, and safety procedures must be complied with at all times.”

“Of course,” Burnett said. He followed Preston through the sliding door and into the lab area. Preston wasn’t sure he’d ever trained a new employee so attentive or so willing to follow instructions. Burnett had been hanging on his every word all morning, unafraid to ask questions. He wasn't writing a word down, either, and when Preston asked him about that, the other man had replied "I'll remember," with such confidence Preston had no doubt he actually would. It was refreshing, really.

Sevarius himself was bent over a microscope, but looked up from his work as Preston introduced them. There were several potted flower plants on the table in front of him, containing what looked to Preston like perfectly normal pansies, in varying shades of purple. 

" _Viola tricolor_ ,” Burnett murmured. "If you don’t mind me asking, Doctor, why are you studying this particular plant?”

“Oh, you’re familiar with it?” Sevarius asked, eyes lighting up. “The flower has been rumored to have an aphrodisiac effect – magical, even, according to some traditions.”

Preston couldn’t quite hold back a scoff.

“Folk legend often contains a seed of truth,” Burnett mused. From anyone else, Preston might have thought the comment was meant as an attempt to brown-nose Sevarius, but he somehow doubted Burnett was the type.

“Indeed,” Sevarius commented. “It seems to have no particular danger in its current form, but distilling the flowers is quite another story. We’re hoping to find a use for it in cross-breeding, or encouraging mating habits in endangered species – ah, but I really shouldn’t say more to a new employee, even one with level three security clearance.”

The flower was pretty enough, but nothing remarkable. Preston leaned in idly to give it a sniff. Pleasant, but again, unremarkable.

Preston loosened his bow tie slightly. It was quite warm in the lab, warmer than usual; maybe the flower required elevated temperatures.

“Excuse me, Mr. Vogel,” Burnett said, turning away from Sevarius. “Are you feeling all right? You look flushed.”

“Fine,” Preston said. “It’s just very warm in here.”

“The temperature controls are set precisely to 70 degrees,” Sevarius said. “Mr. Vogel, are you sure you aren’t having a reaction to the scent of the _viola tricolor_?” Preston couldn't help but notice the interest in Sevarius' voice. The doctor seemed positively ready to pounce and make Preston yet another experiment.

“I don’t...” He couldn’t remember what he had been about to say. He felt suddenly lightheaded, and the air in the room was stifling. “I... I think I need to lie down,” he managed before his knees gave way.

Burnett caught him just in time. Preston clung to his arm like a lifeline, dimly aware of how hot the other man’s body seemed, even through his suit jacket.

“A most interesting reaction,” Sevarius was saying. “Mr. Vogel, if I could just record your temperature and heart rate-”

“He needs to lie down,” Burnett said, voice clipped. “Is there a cot somewhere?”

“Yes, of course,” Sevarius said.

The next thing Preston knew he was lying on a very white cot in a very white room. This room was even hotter than the lab had been, and he pulled his tie off and undid the first few buttons of his shirt, panting heavily.

“Try to get hold of yourself, Mr. Vogel,” Burnett said.

His hands were on Preston’s shoulders, pushing him back against the cot. His tie hung just in front of Preston’s head, and Preston twined his fingers around it, pulled Burnett closer.

Preston hadn’t even known this was what he wanted, but the instant their lips touched he needed more. He pushes his tongue into Burnett’s mouth, tried to get his arms around the other man, but Burnett held him down, surprisingly strong, and pulled away.

“Interesting,” he murmured.

“Please,” Preston gasped, grabbing for Burnett’s tie again. “Please, I need to...”

He wasn’t sure what he needed. He was hot, so hot, and all he could think was that he needed to touch, that that was the only thing that could get keep this heat from consuming him entirely.

Burnett’s eyes flicked around the room, and then he drew back, leaving Preston shaking and panting on the cot.

He was back in what felt like an unbearably long time but was really only a matter of seconds.

“I’ve covered the security camera,” he explained, even though Preston barely registered the words, grabbing for the other man’s arms again. “I’m going to help you the best I can.”

He pulled his tie off with quick, practiced movements, stuffing it in the pocket of his jacket, and Preston gave a little sigh of irritation at being unable to grab for it any more. But then Burnett’s hands were untucking Preston’s shirt, one of them sliding up to rest on the bare skin of his stomach, so searing hot that Preston went still at the shock of it as Burnett undid Preston’s belt buckle one-handed.

He let out a ragged moan when Burnett’s hand finally closed around him, a moan that was muffled when Burnett leaned in to kiss him.

“Shhh,” he murmured, breath warm against Preston’s ear. “Just relax and ride it out.”

It didn’t take long. His senses heightened as they were, he tensed and spent himself in Burnett’s hand in moments, and sagged back against the hard cot.

“Thank you,” he finally managed. He hadn’t actually fallen asleep, not quite, but he wasn’t sure how long he’d spent lying in a fog as the dizzying heat finally faded from his system. Preston was dimly aware that Burnett had helped clean him up and get his pants back up in the meantime. “I’m sorry you had to see me like that.”

“Think nothing of it,” Burnett said, retying his tie. “It was a medical reaction. You have no reason to be ashamed.”

Burnett had already seemed to be a promising employee to Preston – bright and attentive, to be sure. This incident, embarrassing as it had been, proved that he was also quick-thinking, unflappable, and prone to discretion. Preston felt an unexpected surge of affection for him.

"That was quick thinking, with the security camera," he said. "I'm impressed. Of course, I'm sure the good doctor will have his suspicions."

"Doubtless," Burnett said. "But I expected you wouldn't want the scene on film." 

" _Viola tricolor_ ," Preston said. "I wonder why only I had that kind of reaction?"

"Who knows?" Burnett said. "Possibly it was just an allergy. Normally, I believe the petals have to be crushed into a concentrate for it to have any kind of aphrodisiac effect. Sevarius was right about the folk properties. It's sometimes known as heartsease, or love-in-idleness."

In the days, months, years to come, Preston would occasionally find himself thinking about this day. He'd remember hot fluorescent lights and white sterile walls, and Burnett's hands warm on his body, and the way the thin paper cover on the cot crinkled as he hitched his hips. He would wonder why the man knew so much about that particular flower. But for now he simply respected Burnett's cool, detached professionalism.

There was a reason Preston preferred to work with robots; robots were predictable. Their failures were based on hard science and programming, not the frailties of human emotions or desires. Burnett was possibly the most robot-like person Preston had ever met. It was unusual, but appealing.

Owen Burnett, Preston thought to himself, was a man he could trust. A man who couldn’t be swayed to disloyalty. A man who would have his back, and Mr. Renard’s, just as surely as Preston himself would.

 

He was wrong, about the both of them.

 

 


End file.
